Posted on 01/16/2006 7:50:48 AM PST by TaxRelief
bump
I suffer from sinus congestion frequently and used to purchase generic decongestants containing pseudoephedrine from Kroger. The last time I tried to buy some, about two months ago, the pharmacist suggested that I try the new substitute that doesn't contain pseudoephedrine. I wish I could remember the name of the substitute ingredient, but I took the pills back after a trip to the emergency room. About an hour after I took the pill with the substitute (supposedly safer) ingredient, my heart started beating so fast that I became faint and nauseous and then passed out. The ER physician told me that the cardiac ER had seen many people who had similar reactions. So, if any of you try to take the substitute, please be aware of the potential for serious adverse reactions.
It happened some time within the last two months. We went to the store around December 1 to the 4th, and we had to give ID and sign a piece of paper. I vaguely recall reading about Mark Warner signing a law about it, but I can't remember when that was. I only know that we first went to Wal-Mart to buy Sudafed. There were no packages on the shelf. There were cards that said, "Take this to the pharmacy," but the pharmacy was already closed. So we went to a 24-hour pharmacy. We tried to buy one box of plain old Sudafed for me. Before our girls were old enough to take the stuff, that would last me for three or four years. Since they seem to get a cold a month (gym class is great), they take it a lot more than I ever have. Hubby wanted the 12-hour, multi-symptom reliever version. We ended up buying the box for him, and I just did without. I was going on a plane the next day, and I really should have bought the stuff for me. Big mistake! I'm not sure if they would let hubby buy a box and me another box. I'll ask the next time we're there.
It's called phenylephrine.
Oh good grief....I know I've bought sudafed since the beginning of December, maybe I bought it in Maryland, I'm only 8 miles from the line and go there to WalMart and Riteaid.
I'm going to Food Lion and Dollar General, neither of which have a pharmacy, in the morning, I'm going to make a point of checking this out.
Thanks for the information.
I just checked the box of Sudafed I have - it states on the box "Does not contain pseudoephedrine"....so that is why I had no problem buying it. And why my husband says it doesn't work as well.
The author makes the following statement:
Aside from the often amateurish reduction of (pseudo)ephedrine to methamphetamine, the most popular precursor to amphetamine and methamphetamine is phenyl-2-propanone (also called P2P, BMK, Benzyl Methyl Ketone or Phenylacetone). There is an astounding array of synthetic routes to this compound, both due to the relative simple structure of the compound, and also because of its popularity. Many of the earliest routes to the compound has been more or less abandoned due to restrictions on the pre-precursors used to make it, but there has always sprung up new methods of performing the feat of making this compound. Here is a collection of some of the possible methods of synthesizing phenyl-2-propanone, ranging from simple one-step methods to elaborate multi-step variants, and from the very easy to the very complicated
Most of the materials required are now difficult to get. He does state that people are always trying to come up with new paths to P2K, but if it is not cheap, fast, and easy it won't result in much meth being made.
The pseudoephedrine syntheses are very direct and can be done with stolen agricultural chemicals like anhydrous ammonia, and of course cold pills. The more steps you have in a synthesis the lower your yield, and your expenses go up, and you usually require more expensive gear, plus many more types of chemicals.
Restricting access to pseudoephedrine is being tried because the other synthetic pathways are more difficult, time consuming, and expensive, so just economically, the number of people who try to pick up on a P2K route will be limited. Will it work, and is it fair? I don't think it's fair to us normal people who just want to buy cold pills, no. Will it work? I don't know, but the people trying the move think so so maybe they have thought it out. I buy cold pills now when I don't need them, so I'll always have a bunch if I get a cold.
Just to be complete, once you have synthesized a batch of P2K, this is what you need to do to convert to meth. Note that it requires methylamine, a restricted chemical that you cannot get at Walgreen's.
Whoah! Thanks for the tip, I'll read labels more carefully now.
Go separately.
You're right that they sell the unworking variety over the counter. We picked up a box of that stuff, and I said, "But it's not going to work." The variety we ended up buying had 10 or 12 pills in it, and it did have the pseudoephedrine in it. However, the girl at the pharmacy still had to record it. She said they are still putting that on the shelf because it is harder for meth producers to make meth from it.
Ayup, just like how in lots of places who, the crook or the citizen, finds it easier to get a gun?
So will I.
But I am going to check how the 2 stores I have to go to tomorrow are handling the situation, as they are where I normally buy that kind of stuff.
As I said earlier..........the only thing these laws do is harass or inconvenience lawabiding citizens.
a.r.o.o
It's funny because hubby is very conservative, but he did not mind the inconvenience or having to sign his name for the stuff. (well, i'm not including the anger he had over not being able to run in to Wal-Mart to buy the stuff quickly and having to go to another store.) I was the one who was annoyed. If I were a pharmacist, I would be very unhappy with the inconvenience this presents.
Hubby has plans to stock up on the stuff to prepare for next year's cold season. We'll probably get put in some database. Then we'll be put in the has-900-children database. lol
Economics suggests that if there were an easier, cheaper synthetic path with available ingredients, they'd be using it now.
The pseudoephedrine-to-meth synthesis is the most direct; it uses a variant of the Birch Reduction to reduce the -OH group on sudofed- that is all it takes.
None of the curent methode were used 30 years ago.
There are two chemical engineering geniuses in the federal Slam right now who develop these processes in their heads since they are not allowed pencil and paper, much less reference works and suplies. They are people who could have top jobs in industry if they weren't natural born criminals.
Developing the new methods is their way of 'sticking it to the man' but it is certainly not easy and they aren't going to expend the effort until it is needed.
I haven't got the references to them offhand, and don't have time to look.
So9
the link works just fine you're a loon
and heres another one for you
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051120/NEWS02/511200325/1009/ARCHIVES
and riley said in the state of the state address last week how big of an effect this law has made in the meth trade in alabama....want the transcript?
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